If you are already a Tiffany jewelry
aficionado, this is a must-have book. If not, you will nonetheless be
astounded by the gorgeous photographs of
jewelry contained in Bejewelled by Tiffany, 1837-1987 and will
certainly be
impressed by the story of Tiffany & Co.'s extraordinary one hundred
and fifty years of success.

Receiving a gift from Tiffany's is delightful
for almost any red-blooded American woman (or
gentleman)--a piece of jewelry becomes
somewhat of a status symbol when tucked into one of those famous light blue
boxes! Even if we deny that status matters, most of us (of at least a
certain age) enjoyed watching Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in the film, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (ca. 1961). Tiffany's (like Audrey Hepburn) is
associated with glamour and Americans have been forever fascinated with the
glamorous.

Edward Steichen's
photograph in Vogue's 15 October, 1939 issue shows jewelry and a
vanity case made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gwili
André models a turban by john-Frederics pinned with a brooch of
two diamond clips prices at $22,200.00 and a bracelet of 606
diamonds weighing a total of 74.85 carats, priced at $26,000.00.
The two-color gold vanity case with lipstick was set with six
rubies and forty-six diamonds. Vogue commented: 'The fake
can be fun, the synthetic can put up a nice show, but still eyes
turn unswervingly to the real thing in jewels...This may be the
year of Ersatz in many things--but not in jewels.' 1

"Bejewelled by Tiffany,
1837-1987" is almost
exclusively about jewelry, not glass or metalware. It is the catalog
for an exhibit of the same name that is currently at the Gilbert Collection
in London until January of 2007 and is the largest exhibition of Tiffany
jewelry to date. The bulk of the pieces come from the Tiffany
Archives and the rest are from private collections. Much of the jewelry has
never before been seen by the general public.

I hadn't realized (until reading this book) that Tiffany & Co. was
established as early as 1837. It was founded as a small "fancy goods"
store on Broadway in New York City by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John Burnett Young. In 1853, Charles Lewis Tiffany took full control of the company.

Tiffany was deeply devoted to excellence in design, craftsmanship and the
materials used. His exclusive stock appealed to wealthy
Americans and though the company ensured that its most prestigious clients
received their best work, they were also certain that their other customers got the
best they could offer. Although Tiffany's used the finest materials and
gemstones, they were, from the start, committed to design over intrinsic
value.

Charles Lewis Tiffany was a brilliant
merchandiser--an "entrepreneurial genius." As early as 1845,
Tiffany introduced mail
order sales so that any American within reach of the catalog could order from
Tiffany's. This catalog of Useful and Fancy Articles boasted that " the
store had 'become one of the attractions of the city and went on
to respectfully invite the visits of strangers, under the
assurance that they may examine the collection without incurring
the least obligation to make a purchase."

His stock ranged from topical modestly priced
souvenirs, such as a mounted section of
steel cable commemorating the laying of the first transatlantic
cable in 1858, to historic diamonds acquired at the 1887 sale of the
French Crown Jewels and from other princely European collections. This
led to Tiffany stocking such glamorous pieces as the
emerald and diamond brooch adapted from a girdle once owned by
Empress Eugénie.2

Tiffany also "spread the word" by
participating in the great international exhibitions of his day and though
the thought of Tiffany & Co. jewelry of that time conjures up
images
of diamonds and precious stones, Tiffany & Company's gold medal award at
the Paris Exhibition of 1878 was awarded for work that contained not a
single gemstone, a gold bracelet based on an example from ancient Greece.

In 1850, Tiffany opened its first office in Paris and by 1878
had a prestigious location at 36 bis Avenue de L'Opera just one
block from the opera house.

Jewelry from Tiffany & Co. became a
symbol of wealth for its wearers, "a badge of success endowed by
the premier jeweler in the country."3

Even President-elect
Abraham Lincoln shopped at Tiffany's. In 1862, for his Inaugural Ball,
he purchased a suite of jewelry for his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, a pearl and
gold necklace with matching brooch, bracelet and earrings. The First
Lady was thrilled with the gift. In the book is a portrait of Mrs. Lincoln
proudly wearing her Tiffany jewelry.

By November of 1870, Tiffany & Co. was
described as the place where" nine-tenths
of the grooms buy their bridal presents, and every daughter of
New York insists her Pa shall go on Christmas" 4

Tiffany &
Company carried a wide range of jewelry in order to "meet the needs of every
occasion, from baby bracelets to mourning jewelry, and the amazing variety
of influences then in vogue - the ancient classical world, the Renaissance,
India and the Far East."5

Renowned French glass designer, René Lalique made
jewelry for Tiffany's in the 1890s. An exquisite brooch by Lalique in
platinum, gold, amethysts and diamonds is included in the exhibit and is
also
pictured in the book.

During what is called the "Gilded Age" in
American history (the period right after the Civil War when industry
was king and entrepreneurs achieved unprecedented wealth), the
lust for diamonds was satisfied by none other than Tiffany & Co..
Charles Lewis Tiffany was nicknamed "the King of Diamonds" after
acquiring the great fancy yellow 128-carat Tiffany Diamond--a
purchase that precipitated the synonymy of the word "diamonds" with
the name "Tiffany's"

The most
extravagant
Tiffany & Co. diamond brooch of the twentieth century. The
107-carat canary diamond is surmounted by a 23-carat pear-shaped
D-flawless white diamond and surrounded by 80 carats of marquise
and pear-shaped white diamonds. Designed by Maurice Galli
and John Loring in 1988, it was priced at fifteen million
dollars. 6

Pearls were also popular and equal to diamonds in
"prestige and value." Tiffany & Co. used many different types of
pearls, popularizing the "tinted and irregular fresh-water pearls found in
American rivers and the soft pink pearls from conch shells."7 Brooches were
made from actual Australian Neotrigonia shells that were set in gold bezels
with pearl accents. "Naturalism" is a theme that runs through Tiffany
jewelry from the very beginning until the present time. "In the gilded
age, not only did the jewelry closely resemble actual flowers, but things
like tiger claws and tortoise shell abounded."
8

Some of the most fascinating pieces of jewelry
shown in the book are the enameled and diamond orchids created by
Tiffany designer G.
Paulding Farnham for the 1889 Paris Exposition. "Actual orchids were electroformed with copper, the results of
which were then used to make a mold in which the gold was cast.
The gold flowers were then enameled and bejeweled."9

American gemologist, George Frederick Kunz , who
was on Tiffany & Co.'s staff in the 1890s, helped to introduce a plethora of colorful American gemstones into Tiffany's
jewelry production. A sales catalog of 1893 lists 47 different stones
for rings. A hard pink stone discovered in Connecticut by Kunz was named
"Kunzite" in his honor.

By the time of the American national
centennial in 1876, Tiffany & Co. had risen to "the pinnacle of commercial
success and influence." In 1902, When Charles Tiffany died, "all the major silver and
jewelry manufacturers and retailers in New York City closed
during the hours of his funeral, including Gorham Manufacturing
Co., Reed and Barton, Whiting Manufacturing Co., Black Starr and
Frost, and Lord and Taylor--a testament to his respect within
the community." 11

The son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, Louis Comfort Tiffany
became his successor in 1902. Louis had trained as a painter, but was
already
known for his brilliantly innovative glass and interior design. He came to jewelry
"surprisingly late given the firm's prominence in the area,
exhibiting his first collection in 1904." One can see evidences
of his work in other media throughout his jewelry designs.13

The jewelry that Louis made....."became a symbol of culture, with an emphasis on
art, design, and craftsmanship." He created
"exquisite necklaces. hair ornaments and brooches, all of which reflected
his spirit of ingenuity and his dedication to nature, color, and light."14

In 1899.....Louis's leaded-glass windows, blown favrile glass
vessels and enamelwork were featured alongside a selection of
jewelry organized by Siegfried Bing in London at the Grafton
Galleries entitled "Exhibition of L'Art Nouveau.' Bing
promoted this new interest in jewelry, writing in the catalogue
of the exhibition that it seemed to him that jewelry, a new
branch of ornamental art should, before all others, interest the
visitor, chiefly since it represents in a very clear manner the
newer taste, toward which the cultivated portion of the public
in Paris interested in matters of art is now attracted.15

From 1904 to 1933 (the year of his death), all Tiffany & Co.'s designer jewelry was
the creation of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

After Art Nouveau and the period of
naturalism, came the abstract geometry of Art Deco and the "streamlining" of
the 1930s. In 1939, for the New York World's Fair, Tiffany's created a "comet brooch" honoring the advent
of the aerodynamic age.

During the Second World War, the
production of Tiffany's extravagant jewelry was put on hold.

A few pieces were made during
the war, such as a pictured bangle with gold stars with small
faceted ruby, diamond, and sapphire. The pieces are marked with
a star in a manner that evoked a service bar paying homage to
the numerous Tiffany employees on active military duty.17

In the 1950s, Tiffany's could not ignore the
changes taking place in the field of metal arts. It was the era of the artist-jeweler
(designer-craftsman). Tiffany responded to the emerging
quest for individuality by hiring Jean Schlumberger.
French-born Schlumberger was known for his work with Schiaparelli in Paris
in the 1930s.

The
elegant and witty genius of French designer Jean Schlumberger, hired in
1956, brought a universally acclaimed originality......(his) jewels
became a "near necessity in fashion photographs.....they were shown with
the clothes of a broad range of American's top designers. Schlumberger
reveled in the qualities, colors, and textures of precious gems and
gold, nature's gifts to the world, (but) he was never intimidated by
their value. He despised jewels of interest only for their monetary worth and said, famously,
'You might as well pin a cheque to your lapel.' "In the same
way, the breathtaking workmanship of the goldsmith and
gem-setter that he so admired and respected became a discreet
presence in his works, subjugated, like the materials, to the
overall artistic concept.18

"Ribbons
Necklace" of diamonds and gold, designed by Jean
Schlumberger in 1960, here centered by the Tiffany Diamond
in a brooch setting. Worn by Audrey Hepburn in
publicity photographs for Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961.19

Schlumberger's inspirations came from nature--the sea, oceanic
creatures, and plants. He said that he tried "to make everything look as if
it were growing, uneven, at random, organic, in motion." He
explained, "I want to capture the irregularity of the universe."20

In the 1960s Tiffany's hired the American
designer Donald Claflin who created humorous, figurative pieces and
was influenced by the "hippy era" in the 1970s.

Beginning in 1974, the jewelry of Elsa Peretti
brought a totally different look to Tiffany jewelry. Her soft,
sculptural shapes in silver and gold were "minimally elegant"--
naturalistic, but abstract and modern. Her jewelry was also affordable for a much
larger segment of the population.

Since the 1980s "Paloma Picasso's bold forms and love of color.....have brought
modern expression to Tiffany's lasting fascination with gemstones."
21

What will be the future of Tiffany & Co.? Stay tuned. I hear that they are "planning a dynamic
collaboration with Frank Gehry...continuing the drive towards
design excellence and innovation...and most of all, keeping the art of the jewel
and the cult of individuality alive."22